


Way Down We Go

by Set_me_free



Category: Holby City
Genre: AU, Another AU no one asked for, F/F, Journey to the Centre of the Earth AU, Slow Burn, for plot reasons Jason is Bernie's ward
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-26 23:57:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10797444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Set_me_free/pseuds/Set_me_free
Summary: Journey To The Centre Of The Earth AU.





	Way Down We Go

Edinburgh April 1880

 

Bernie is standing deeply afflicted over an old, worn down manuscript on top of one of the many tables in her laboratory. The sack coat of her a dark grey three piece suit neatly folded over the chair. Cuffs of her dress shirt rolled up below her elbows, topmost button opened, grey silky ascot tie abandoned on the table next to her.

 

"Doctor Bernie!" Jason runs into the study, stops short in front of Bernie, and rummages through his leather bag. He takes out what looks like a black, porous rock about the size of his hand. He grins a toothy smile at her. "A little token I thought you might fancy. I saw it in a window of a curiosity shop down the street."

Bernie takes it from his hand, looks at it curiously an eyebrow raised, weighs it in her hand. "It's Lava…But exceptionally heavy."

"Could serve as a paperweight." Jason happily points out. "Do you like it?"

"It's a scholar's choice!" Bernie reassures him, hand on his arm for a brief moment.

Bernie takes a closer look at the lava rock "I could swear there's something inside." She puts it on the messing scale, adjusts the weights.

 

+++

 

"This lava is one in a million!" Bernie exclaims. "You had three semester of petrology, Jason. From which volcano do you reckon this piece came from?" she regards her ward expectantly.

Jason takes a closer look at it "Mount Etna?" Looks up to her.

"Close, Aeolian Islands."

He looks at her sceptically "But that would be very light lava, this piece is too heavy!"

"Exactly! That's what got me curious. There must be something inside made from the heaviest rock known to mankind." Her eyes light up excitedly.

"That would be Icelandic peridotite then." Jason provides, Bernie smiles, and nods.

 

She hands him a magnifying glass, indicates to him to take a closer look, a small piece is chipped off on the side "There are marks on it. Did you do that?"

"No, but it was indeed made by hand."

"But how did a rock from Iceland end up in lava of the Mediterranean? That's not possible."

"See, that's what we're going to find out. We're going to melt the lava.” Jason perks up, he loves his guardian’s hands on approach to Science, and his studies have been mostly in theory, limited to dusty lecture halls and libraries for the most part.

 

Bernie has already lit the oven, she puts on some heavy gloves and picks the rock up with some big tweezers, moves it around the room to the oven, puts the stone inside, and closes the wicket again. Jason carefully adds aqua regia, a yellow-brownish mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acid, through an opening at the top to it.

Suddenly there's a loud bang in the oven and heaps of smoke erupt from it. Both cough heavily, Bernie opens the oven, when the smoke is dissolved mostly, she takes out the rock with the tweezers.

"Look at this! It _is_ man-made…Looks like a plump bob" Bernie muses.

"Doctor Bernie! There's an inscription on this side” Jason points to the opposing end of the bob. “Maybe something Nordic? This part here looks like a name…What does it say...Arne…Sak..nus…sem."

“Arne Saknussem!” Bernie exclaims.

"Do you know him?"

"He was the greatest scientist of his day, he claimed there was a world down below, and one day he just disappeared." She ponders her next steps. "I'll write to Professor Campbell about this, he's the leading expert on volcanoes."

 

+++

 

Bernie is in the library, when Jason arrives with the mail. "Still no answer!” She’s still in her dressing gown above slacks and a dress shirt, sifting through tattered books. “It’s been two weeks! How long does it take for a letter to get from Stockholm to Edinburgh?!" She jittery goes through the letters Jason hands her, her face lits up "Finally an answer from Stockholm!" She reads through it, her face falls "It says Professor Campbell has vanished...his disappearance falls closely to the time my letters must have reached him...with all my material." She throws her hands up in the air, her mood going from bad to worse at the implication of it.

"He must have thought it not important enough to answer it." Jason interjects.

"Or too important."

 

She goes through the rest of the letters, she disregarded in her hast to open the letter from Stockholm. “It’s the translation of the bob…’I am dying, but my life's work must not be lost. Whoever descends into the crater of Sneffels Yocul can reach the centre of the earth. I did it. At sunrise on the last day of May the mountain Scartaris will point the path. Arne Saknussem’” she regards him a moment, head cocked to the side "Jason, what do you think about a trip to Iceland?"

 

+++

 

Reykjavik May 1880

 

They arrive on the eve of the first summer haul, the Icelandic fleet preparing to leave first thing the next morning. Everywhere they try, everything is sold out, and every last piece of rope, lamp, and anything else they'd need for their travels down to the centre of the earth is gone, sold to none other than Professor Campbell mere two days ago.

They do find out, though, that he's staying at the very Inn they're staying too, so they head back.

 

At the reception desk they try their luck to suss out the information in which room the professor is staying "I understand that a friend of mine...a colleague...Professor Campbell is staying here. He is in right now, is he not?" "He is not in! You cannot see him." The receptionist retorts agitatedly.

Bernie scribbles down the name 'Edward Campbell' on a piece of paper in fine letters and hands it to her. "Well, please give him this note from me." The woman at the reception puts it into the box labelled "29".

 

They knock at Campbell's room "Professor Campbell? This is Bernie Wolfe. We know you are in there!" There’s no sound coming from it, she gets out a flick knife and with a few sure movement of her hand opens the door. "Professor Campbell?" The room is dark, Bernie lights the gas lamp at the entrance with a matchstick. The room is empty. They look around in astonishment. "You see what all this is, Jason?"

"Ruhmkorff lamps! Breathing devices! Ropes! Everything we need is in here!" Jason proclaims, he starts to explore to the next room, finds more climbing and travel equipment.

 

"Doctor Bernie!" a shrill scream from Jason in the next rooms alerts Bernie. She moves into the next room. Jason is standing next to a stretcher, face ashen, and mouth slightly open, pointing to it. On it, covered with a blanket, lies Professor Campbell. "Why didn't they tell us?" he asks quietly.

"Hotels rarely advertise the fact that they have corspes lying around in their rooms." Bernie answers sardonically. "I think a moment of silence is in order in memory of a great scientist, even if he was a blasted thief" They stand in silence, Bernie sniffs the air, takes a closer look at Campbell, takes a sheet of paper from the nearby table, and a comb from her breast pocket, combs through the beard, finding traces of white crystals "Mmmh smells like bitter almonds…Potassium cyanide! Jason, he was working against us but someone was working against him even more."

"Who?"

 

+++

 

Serena Campbell emerges from a coach, wearing a dark green dress and a matching hat adorned with some feathers and a small veil, a matching umbrella and small bag in her hands. A tall, stern looking man is helping her out. She enters the Inn.

"I'm the wife of Professor Campbell. He was meant to pick me up at the pier." The face of the woman at the desk falls.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" The woman comes round the desk, and takes her by the arm, leads her into the adjoining office.

"Please sit down for a moment before you go up, my dear." Serena sits down at the table while the woman brings over a bottle of vodka and two glasses, fills them with a finger’s breadth of liquid and hands one of them to Serena. "He seemed so well yesterday when he went up to the mountain. He even received a guest for lunch. His guest left around five. When the maid went up to his room to make the bed later..." Serena gasps, puts her head into her hand and sobs. "Never has anyone before died in my Inn! We called a doctor but it was already too late. We left him up there because we know you'd be arriving soon."

 

+++

 

Bernie goes down to the reception desk, finds it empty, and looks around, sees a shadow of a woman through the milk stained glasses of the office, goes to open the door when she hears the voice of a woman.

Opens the door just a crack, stops in her tracks when she sees a petite brunette sat a table, the receptionist hovering next to her, overhears the last bit of conversation, and gathers that this must be Madam Campbell.

She pushes open the door fully "Madam, my deep sympathy. My name is Berenice - Bernie - Wolfe from Edinburgh University. I take it you're familiar with that name."

"Doctor Wolfe." Serena looks up at her, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief.

"I see you are." She turns to the receptionist "I must ask you a question and it is very well Madame Campbell be present. Who was the last person to see Professor Campbell alive?" Two confused pair of eyes regard her.

"His luncheon guest last night - Count Saknussem."

"Count Saknussem? I didn't realize the family line still existed."

"They're the oldest family here."

"A descendant of Arne Saknussem?" Bernie looks at Serena in surprise.

"Yes, and a Scentist like your late husband. They saw each other every day and worked together in Professor Campbell's room." The receptionist explains.

"I suggest you have an autopsy performened immediately." Bernie interrupts.

Serena looks at her quizzical, her sobs have stopped. "You think there's something suspicious about my husband's death? That he was killed?"

"Poisened." She turns to the other woman.  "This is a matter for the police, please send for them instantly."

The receptionist walks around to Serena, grabs her by her left arm again "I will take you to your room first, Madam."

Bernie intercepts them on their way out, right hand held up. "If you could just give us a moment alone, please?" The receptionist leaves them on their own. Bernie takes another step closer to Serena, well into her personal space. Serena regards her with a raised eyebrow but doesn't butch on this blatant display of power play. Bernie is taken aback for a moment by this - then impressed, a strong, confident woman of her liking, not to mention beautiful.

"I understand you are deeply distressed by your husband's death and I fully understand the feeling...however, I must ask you, how do you intend to dispose of your husband's equipment upstairs?"

Serena slightly turns, dabbing at her eyes again. "What does it matter?"

"Precisly, do not worry about it, I will take it off your hands" Bernie offers cheerily.

"Well, we can discuss this later." She takes to leave, Bernie grabs her by the arm, softly turning her around to face her again. Fiery brown eyes staring back at her daring to touch her. She can't help to gaze into them. After a moment - longer than what is appropiate - she composes herself again, looks down, letting go of Serena's arm, and stepping back. 

"No, we cannot! Time is running out! My expedition must start within the next 24 hours." She urgently exclaims finally more flustered than she expected from knowing this woman all but a few minutes.

" _Your_ expedition? I only know of the Campbell expedition." Serena says indignantly, head held high.

"Husbands do not always tell their wives everything." Bernie interjects in a low voice, peering through her blonde fringe. "I do not wish to besmirch your husband's memory but I am under pressure, I must adjust my request to a demand"

"Demand? Take over a man's work of a lifetime? He died for that idea!" Serena asks angrily.

"An idea he stole from me!" Bernie raises her voice in exasperation. This woman is bloody infuriating.

"That is a lie! How dare you!" Serena looks at her accusingly, calmly she adds "I would rather destroy every last piece of equipment than hand it over to you!"

And with that, she turns, and leaves a bedazzled Bernie behind.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading.  
> This idea wouldn't leave me alone, so here is another AU no one asked for and I probably shouldn't write. Only my second story for this ship. Any kind of feedback on this is very much appreciated.


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